On August 6, two assailants on a motorcycle shot dead Rudy Alicaway while he was on his way home in Molave town, Zamboanga del Sur province, on the southern island of Mindanao. Alicaway, 46, a radio host on local DXPD, survived the first volley of gunfire, but the gunmen reportedly got off their motorcycle, followed him as he tried to crawl to safety, and fatally shot him. Police say they don’t yet know the motive for the killing of Alicaway, who was also a local councilman.

The next day, two gunmen killed Leodoro Diaz in President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat, also in Mindanao. Diaz, 60, was a long-time columnist for a local weekly and a reporter for Radio Mindanao Network. He had told his colleagues earlier in the day that he was going to file a report on illegal drugs, but it is unclear whether his reporting was the motive for his killing.